Elise Thomas
@elisethomas.bsky.social
Senior OSINT Investigator at @cen4infores.bsky.social. Former disinfo and extremism researcher. Opinions, hot takes, mistakes all my own. https://www.clippings.me/elisethomas
The sad thing is I doubt that anyone believes the NACC will actually address this with anything approaching the level of rigour and independence that it deserves. www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...
‘Dirty deals’: Nauru rorting, bikie gang allegations to be referred to NACC
Allegations of rorting, graft and bikie gangs infiltrating critical border security operations are set to be referred to the national anti-corruption watchdog.
www.theage.com.au
November 10, 2025 at 10:31 AM
The sad thing is I doubt that anyone believes the NACC will actually address this with anything approaching the level of rigour and independence that it deserves. www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...
Reposted by Elise Thomas
NEW: Donald Trump has pardoned a long list of allies in his bid to subvert the 2020 election including:
-Rudy Giuliani
-John Eastman
-Mark Meadows
-Sidney Powell
-Ken Chesebro
-Christina Bobb
-Kelli Ward
-Jenna Ellis
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
-Rudy Giuliani
-John Eastman
-Mark Meadows
-Sidney Powell
-Ken Chesebro
-Christina Bobb
-Kelli Ward
-Jenna Ellis
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 10, 2025 at 5:56 AM
NEW: Donald Trump has pardoned a long list of allies in his bid to subvert the 2020 election including:
-Rudy Giuliani
-John Eastman
-Mark Meadows
-Sidney Powell
-Ken Chesebro
-Christina Bobb
-Kelli Ward
-Jenna Ellis
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
-Rudy Giuliani
-John Eastman
-Mark Meadows
-Sidney Powell
-Ken Chesebro
-Christina Bobb
-Kelli Ward
-Jenna Ellis
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Amazing that the list of dodgy things about Home Affairs' offshore detention contracts is so extensive that this quite long article couldn't even fit in that time we paid $432 million in taxpayer money to a company registered to a shack on Kangaroo Island www.theage.com.au/national/pou...
‘Pouring money into a trough’: Senior public servant blows whistle on allegedly ‘corrupt’ millions
The former Home Affairs assistant secretary claims money was spent on overinflated contracts or for services that were never provided.
www.theage.com.au
November 9, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Amazing that the list of dodgy things about Home Affairs' offshore detention contracts is so extensive that this quite long article couldn't even fit in that time we paid $432 million in taxpayer money to a company registered to a shack on Kangaroo Island www.theage.com.au/national/pou...
This was really interesting. I want to know what the company plans to do when law enforcement comes and asks for recordings from inside the homes of particular clients from them, because it WILL happen. What do they store, what will they share? @kevinroose.com @caseynewton.bsky.social
NEO, a new humanoid robot that can do housekeeping, has the internet buzzing. The hosts of "Hard Fork" met with Bernt Bornich, the chief executive of the company 1X, which created the robot, and got to put NEO to the test. nyti.ms/47MhkAo
November 9, 2025 at 9:44 AM
This was really interesting. I want to know what the company plans to do when law enforcement comes and asks for recordings from inside the homes of particular clients from them, because it WILL happen. What do they store, what will they share? @kevinroose.com @caseynewton.bsky.social
As a non-US citizen, I find the tone of some of the "a terrible thing happened - TO A US CITIZEN!!" coverage quite alienating.
Non-US citizens have rights. It's terrible that this happened regardless of their citizenship.
Non-US citizens have rights. It's terrible that this happened regardless of their citizenship.
"When I picked up my granddaughter from the federal agents, she had a dirty diaper, a bruise on her face, and was developing a rash. She was exhausted and cried… My heart aches knowing this could happen to others, to my kids, or even me, despite being U.S. citizens.”
November 9, 2025 at 4:48 AM
As a non-US citizen, I find the tone of some of the "a terrible thing happened - TO A US CITIZEN!!" coverage quite alienating.
Non-US citizens have rights. It's terrible that this happened regardless of their citizenship.
Non-US citizens have rights. It's terrible that this happened regardless of their citizenship.
Get ready for this to be used against Gaza protests, if it happens. Legislating against freedom of speech and freedom of protest has implications for everyone, not just the people you disagree with the most.
November 8, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Get ready for this to be used against Gaza protests, if it happens. Legislating against freedom of speech and freedom of protest has implications for everyone, not just the people you disagree with the most.
I feel like a lot of pundits are really missing the obvious by pontificating about how Trump’s vote reflected a huge swing to the right and Mandani’s to the left.
It’s much simpler than that: they’re both ‘fuck the system’ votes. It’s not left-right, it’s status quo vs literally anything else.
It’s much simpler than that: they’re both ‘fuck the system’ votes. It’s not left-right, it’s status quo vs literally anything else.
November 8, 2025 at 6:10 AM
I feel like a lot of pundits are really missing the obvious by pontificating about how Trump’s vote reflected a huge swing to the right and Mandani’s to the left.
It’s much simpler than that: they’re both ‘fuck the system’ votes. It’s not left-right, it’s status quo vs literally anything else.
It’s much simpler than that: they’re both ‘fuck the system’ votes. It’s not left-right, it’s status quo vs literally anything else.
‘Be MySpace Tom, not Mark Zuckerberg’ a maxim to live by
If I was really rich, I would not complain about mayors refusing to meet with me; I would just buy a lot of Lego sets and spend extended periods in Tokyo, Italy, and France
November 7, 2025 at 11:18 PM
‘Be MySpace Tom, not Mark Zuckerberg’ a maxim to live by
Boxed beef…? Is this the goon of meat, what?
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Boxed beef…? Is this the goon of meat, what?
I find it quite refreshing how Google was like "we're not building an AI data centre in Christmas Island" and Reuters was just like "yeah but they're lying though" www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
November 7, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I find it quite refreshing how Google was like "we're not building an AI data centre in Christmas Island" and Reuters was just like "yeah but they're lying though" www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
Reposted by Elise Thomas
The man who has caused this will now be a trillionaire. 600.000 deaths, two thirds of them children.
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 12:21 PM
The man who has caused this will now be a trillionaire. 600.000 deaths, two thirds of them children.
Reposted by Elise Thomas
This summer, Russia banned online searches for "extremist" information. Federal agents have now demonstrated that they can act against overcurious Internet users within a matter of hours. meduza.io/en/feature/2...
A Russian medical student read about Ukraine’s Azov Regiment while riding the bus. Within hours, federal agents arrested him for an ‘illegal Internet search.’ — Meduza
One fine day in late September, a medical student named Sergey was riding the bus to work in Kamensk-Uralsky, browsing the Internet on his phone. He came across some photos showing the insignia…
meduza.io
November 7, 2025 at 12:14 AM
This summer, Russia banned online searches for "extremist" information. Federal agents have now demonstrated that they can act against overcurious Internet users within a matter of hours. meduza.io/en/feature/2...
Reposted by Elise Thomas
"Looking into a mirror that makes you insane" is the sort of story that has been told in countless iterations for centuries and yet here he were
November 7, 2025 at 12:58 AM
"Looking into a mirror that makes you insane" is the sort of story that has been told in countless iterations for centuries and yet here he were
Reposted by Elise Thomas
Meta earns $3.5 billion every six months from showing Faceboon and Instagram users 15 billion “higher legal risk” scam ad impressions a day, internal documents state.
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Meta earns $3.5 billion every six months from showing Faceboon and Instagram users 15 billion “higher legal risk” scam ad impressions a day, internal documents state.
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Reposted by Elise Thomas
🚨🚨This is stellar investigative journalism by @kaitlintosh.bsky.social and @michelleinezsimon.bsky.social on how #elonmusk is boosting the #british right. 🧵 news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:51 AM
🚨🚨This is stellar investigative journalism by @kaitlintosh.bsky.social and @michelleinezsimon.bsky.social on how #elonmusk is boosting the #british right. 🧵 news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Reposted by Elise Thomas
"How we choose to act now will determine whether our shared basis for reality — what we see and hear — remains trustworthy."
Generative video's threat to visual truth and what we can do about it, and why concerted action matters now, in @transformernews.ai
www.transformernews.ai/p/sora-is-he...
Generative video's threat to visual truth and what we can do about it, and why concerted action matters now, in @transformernews.ai
www.transformernews.ai/p/sora-is-he...
Sora Is Here. The window to save visual truth is closing
Opinion: Sam Gregory argues that generative video is undermining the notion of a shared reality, and that we need to act before it’s lost forever
www.transformernews.ai
November 6, 2025 at 2:50 AM
"How we choose to act now will determine whether our shared basis for reality — what we see and hear — remains trustworthy."
Generative video's threat to visual truth and what we can do about it, and why concerted action matters now, in @transformernews.ai
www.transformernews.ai/p/sora-is-he...
Generative video's threat to visual truth and what we can do about it, and why concerted action matters now, in @transformernews.ai
www.transformernews.ai/p/sora-is-he...
Reposted by Elise Thomas
the first what now
Trump ally Infantino to award first Fifa Peace Prize at World Cup draw in DC
Fifa unveils a new Peace Prize to be awarded at the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, citing a mission to honor efforts to end conflict
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:00 AM
the first what now
Reposted by Elise Thomas
November 3, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Elise Thomas
It is very funny that A7A5 hired a famous fraudster to promote them and even he was like "no I have no cryptocurrency, that stuff is super dodgy" www.cryptopolitan.com/catch-me-if-...
November 2, 2025 at 10:14 PM
It is very funny that A7A5 hired a famous fraudster to promote them and even he was like "no I have no cryptocurrency, that stuff is super dodgy" www.cryptopolitan.com/catch-me-if-...
This translates extremely well into the Australian context too
Important piece by @resi-analyst.bsky.social this. Successive governments seem not to have understood that your regulatory framework over the longterm shapes who your market participants *are*. If want short-term (i.e. over the next 5-10 years) benefits of planning reform, need to be more active.
New homes: even if you build them, there’s no one to buy them
We’re often told housing demand exceeds supply — so why are new homes struggling to be built and bought?
www.ft.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:29 AM
This translates extremely well into the Australian context too
wild that you would be gifted a name like Theophrastus Bombastus and choose not to use it
October 29, 2025 at 7:49 PM
wild that you would be gifted a name like Theophrastus Bombastus and choose not to use it
Reposted by Elise Thomas
Excuse me? So the company the President currently owns is teaming up with a cryptocurrency company to create a prediction market, which will take bets... on things the President himself has quite a lot of control over?
Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen.
www.ft.com/content/4855...
Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen.
www.ft.com/content/4855...
October 29, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Excuse me? So the company the President currently owns is teaming up with a cryptocurrency company to create a prediction market, which will take bets... on things the President himself has quite a lot of control over?
Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen.
www.ft.com/content/4855...
Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen.
www.ft.com/content/4855...
Hugh White hitting the AUKUS nail on the head with a resounding thud www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politic...
October 27, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Hugh White hitting the AUKUS nail on the head with a resounding thud www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politic...
Reposted by Elise Thomas
Deputy head of Russian nuclear weapons developer owns stake in Czech factory
The Insider and @investigacecz.bsky.social detail Alexander Petrov's role in the Czech firm Roboterm and its Russian partner Reltec, which supplies state defense companies.
The Insider and @investigacecz.bsky.social detail Alexander Petrov's role in the Czech firm Roboterm and its Russian partner Reltec, which supplies state defense companies.
Deputy head of Russian nuclear weapons developer owns stake in Czech factory
The sanctioned Russian Federal Nuclear Center (RFNC) is responsible for developing more than half of the Kremlin’s nuclear arsenal. Nevertheless, RFNC deputy director Alexander Petrov owns a 43% stake...
theins.press
October 24, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Deputy head of Russian nuclear weapons developer owns stake in Czech factory
The Insider and @investigacecz.bsky.social detail Alexander Petrov's role in the Czech firm Roboterm and its Russian partner Reltec, which supplies state defense companies.
The Insider and @investigacecz.bsky.social detail Alexander Petrov's role in the Czech firm Roboterm and its Russian partner Reltec, which supplies state defense companies.